Blood is Thicker
by The Author and Self
Summary: When investigating a string of murders throughout Georgia, the team encounters a potential victim who has more in common with a certain member of the team than anyone would dream. REID-CENTRIC!
1. Chapter 1

_"I tasted too what was called the sweet of revenge – but it was transient, it expired even with the object, that provoked it."_ Anne Radcliffe

Kayla Benefield stared up at the stars as she walked outside, her chocolate lab in tow. "Annie, come on baby," she said, laughing at the awkward puppy on the leash. "Let's get busy, I'm tired and I have exams tomorrow."

Annie didn't seem to understand this as she rooted through some kudzu on the side of the quiet suburban road. Two lakes were on either side of the road of the quiet residence called Laurel Lakes. Suddenly, the dog stood stark still, hearing something. She then retreated back, crying, to her master, who was looking on confusedly.

"What's goin' on, baby?" Kayla asked, reaching down to scratch Annie's ears, trying to calm her down.

Kayla reached up to touch her necklace, a simple silver chain with a pendant of eight children holding hands in a circle. If one didn't know better, they would say it was a snowflake. "Annie?" she asked again, her voice getting higher. "Come on, sweetheart, I'll take the heat if you pee in the house tonight, let's just go home."

Kayla quickly picked up the puppy, who had no objection, and began to walk quickly back to her house. She heard footsteps behind her. Not wanting to turn around, her walk soon turned into a run, but the stride behind her was longer, stronger, and gaining. She turned to see who was chasing her, but couldn't see because of a glare of the streetlight.

A sharp pain filled her head as she tried to yell but couldn't. Her mouth wouldn't move. Her hand lifted to her forehead and came back covered with blood. She let go of Annie, who ran barking back to the house, trying to let someone, anyone know what was happening to her master.

Kayla Benefield was found dead three days later in a ditch only five miles away from her home.


	2. Chapter 2

J.J. shifted slightly in her seat on the airplane on the way to Atlanta, Georgia, as she flipped through the case files again. "Three girls dead," she murmured.

"They don't seem to have any connection," Reid said clearly from across the aisle. He and Hotch were engaged in a game of poker; Reid was clearly winning. "Other than age and their gender. But that's just about it."

"Were the victims wearing similar things?" Morgan asked J.J. who hadn't filled the team in on this spot of information.

"Other than two of them wearing pajamas, no. They were all attacked at night and near their homes."

"But there's no even space of time between attacks. It almost seems like the un-sub is waiting for whenever he can to kill these girls. The fact that they have little to no immediate connection means that he's being very specific with what he wants. There is something that connects them, but it's very subtle," Reid commented, laying down the winning hand with a triumphant look.

"In Atlanta? There could be millions of things that connect these girls," Hotch said.

"There's only one victim who lives in Atlanta," J.J. said. "The other one lives in Athens and the most recent lives in a place called Carrollton."

"Then, we shouldn't go to Carrollton, if he's been so sporadic," Morgan pontificated.

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch," Prentiss said, looking up from her book. It was just a trashy paperback romance novel. She got it for about a dime.

"You talking to me, Miss Emily Prentiss?" Morgan feigned indignity.

"I'm talking to all of you," Emily went on just as seriously as she had before. "We haven't even seen the body yet and you're already trying to peg an unsub. We haven't even talked to families."

Reid nodded as he picked up the cards. He looked over at Rossi, who hadn't had a part in the conversation. He was watching the sunrise over the clouds. "You okay?" he asked.

Rossi nodded and Reid sensed that his silence had something to do with his tender spot for kids.

When her mother had told her about Kayla, Haley thought it was a joke. She and Kayla had been friends since the third grade and they were now both juniors in high school. When Haley heard, she fell over. She didn't pass out, but she fell over. She didn't cry until later that night at around four in the morning, because she wanted to make sure everyone was asleep.

Crying was Haley's enemy. It showed weakness, and she needed to be the strongest person she knew how to be for her friends, who were breaking into tears without warning because something 'reminded them of Kayla'. If Haley could have a penny for every thing that reminded her of Kayla, she'd be a 

millionaire. Her friends' crying only reminded Haley of how much stronger she needed to be, so the four AM crying bouts were necessary.

The day after the day after Kayla was found, the FBI came to do some questioning at her school. Logically, Haley didn't know why a FBI team had to come out for this, but she was glad that the local police department was taking this seriously.

That's when the rumors started.

There were rumors of a serial killer, maybe even living in Carrollton. There were rumors of Mafia activity. There were rumors of her running into a dog, or trespassing in someone else's yard and getting shot. There were rumors that she wasn't even murdered, that she set it up for attention. This one made Haley the most angry. In her heart, she knew that Kayla was dead and no longer walking this earth.

The next day was when Haley was called in for questioning.

On her way into the principal's office, she passed a blond woman, a Hispanic man, a black guy, and a tall brown-haired man. They looked at her as she walked by, and Haley knew that they were trying not to. She was well known, probably the prime suspect. That's the victim's best friend.

She walked into a room where two people stood. One was a brunette woman with harsh angles to her face. Her brown eyes gleamed with what appeared to be knowledge beyond what Haley had. The guy looked young, like he had just got out of college, and Haley wondered why he was even there.

The woman extended a hand. "Haley Garret?" she asked.

Haley nodded. "Yeah," she breathed.

"I'm Special Agent Prentiss this is Doctor Reid," she indicated the guy leaning against the wall, who waved. "Now, I imagine you know why the FBI was called in on this case."

"You mean Kayla?" Haley asked. "It's just one girl, right? I thought FBI was only involved in serial killers and stuff."

"There have actually been three murders," Prentiss said. "One being your friend Kayla. They were all killed at night near their homes. If I showed you some photos would you be able to recognize some of these girls?"

"Depends on the photo," Haley shrugged. "I might, though."

"Reid?" Prentiss looked at him as he was shuffling through a brief case.

"Thanks for being so cooperative," she looked at Haley, who was fidgeting with her necklace: a pendant of eight children holding hands in a circle.

"If you recognize anyone, just let us know, okay?" he asked, looking at her necklace.

Haley nodded, taking the pictures. There was Kayla, of course, with her at a lake and their matching necklaces. She flipped. There was a picture of one girl at the beach. She had long, straight, black hair and a small, button nose she also wore the same necklace Kayla and Haley did. "I know her," Haley said, her eyes growing big. "Sam's one of my good friends. She's dead?" she choked.

Reid didn't look at her, but took the picture and put it to the side. Haley looked at the third picture of a red-headed girl with chocolate brown eyes again with the same necklace. "That's Gina. I know her too," she sniffed.

"How do you know these girls?" Prentiss asked. "Did they all know each other?"

Haley was choking on the air. "How… how… wh-?" She began to hyperventilate.

Reid got down on her level, cupping his hands over his mouth and nose. "Just breathe deeply in and out like this, okay?" he said through it, causing his voice to be amusingly distorted.

Haley copied him and was soon able to breathe again.

"I noticed that you were all wearing that same necklace in some form or another," he noted. "What is it, like a club?"

"No…" Haley whimpered. "A camp. Our camp… Camp Mikell up in Toccoa."

He shook his head. "I wouldn't know it."

"I wouldn't expect you to. It's an Episcopal camp, so we're all pretty close because we're all kinda… you know, weird."

"Did you go to the same camp session?" Prentiss asked.

"Yes, and we all counseled the same session last year and we did the same this year. That's why we were all so close. Dead? All of them?"

"Was there anything out of the ordinary this year?" Reid asked. "Anything that would make someone have a grudge against your group? It can be the smallest thing."

"There's one… thing," Haley sniffed. She couldn't believe herself, crying like this. She breathed into her hands some more. "But I'm signed a confidentiality waver."

"I think you can ignore it just this once," Prentiss pressed.

Haley looked around the room, as if someone would rat on her to the camp, did it matter anymore? She took a deep breath and held her hands in the position Dr. Reid showed her for a few seconds, then took them down and nodded. "All right, this year was pretty normal, well, as normal as my camp goes. It was the last day of the session Gina, Kayla, Sam and I counseled and we were walking down girl's hill toward the pavilion outside of the pool. There're picnic tables in the shade there and a boy was sitting alone. As counselors, it's sort of our job to make sure everyone's in the right place and people feel like 

they're part of the group, we're all pretty close, you know? So, the boy was Dylan Cross and he had been kind of quiet the whole week, and he was sitting there crying, so we sat and held him for a few seconds, I made sure the other three were there too, for liability's sake.

"We started talking to him and then we asked why he was crying. He told us he didn't know that life could be what it was like at Camp Mikell. Sam told him that people still loved him at home, too, just like at camp. Then he said that she was wrong.

"That surprised me, and I asked him to elaborate. He revealed that his father beat him for stupid things like spilling a drink or something, he lifted the leg of his shorts and showed us some scars from what looked like an electric plug being jammed into him."

Haley looked up, tears dancing in her eyes. Reid looked like he was about to say something, but she continued. "So I sent Kayla to get the Dean, Ken Struble, and call DFACS. They arrested his father when he came to pick up Dylan and we kept Dylan for another two days until foster parents came for him. I got a couple of e-mails from him thanking me and the others, but after that, nothing."

"That's pretty strange to not want to bring up," Prentiss said accusingly.

Haley narrowed her eyes at the female agent, holding a cold look of what could be interpreted as calculating and strength. "If you knew this place and the people there like I do, you would want to hold the standards of the confidentiality statement as well as I would have."

"You sound like this camp is more to you than most," Reid interjected. "Is there a reason for that?"

"The people there are just special, it's more of the scenario that's got me bound. Dylan trusted me more than my friends. I was a little more familiar with the foster care system than he was."

"You're adopted?"

She nodded. "My mother was a schizophrenic, and my father gave me to the foster care system at the hospital. It was in 1991."

"Couldn't he have taken care of you?"

"He said that he already had, and I quote 'a weirdo boy', and dealing with two would have been a bit too much," Haley said and smirked up at Reid through her curtain of mouse brown hair. "I don't blame him, I'm more trouble than I'm worth."

Prentiss smiled. "What do you mean by that?"

"I know a bit more than most kids my age," she shrugged. "I have an eidetic memory and an IQ of 187. I don't think a man that weak would have been able to handle me."

Prentiss smiled and laughed looking at Dr. Reid. "Have fun with her," she stood up raising her hands as if in surrender.

Reid rolled his eyes. "What was Dylan's father's name?"

"Edgar Cross," she murmured. Reid looked up at Prentiss and nodded. She left the room.

"Haley, I don't want to alarm you, but I only want to warn you, okay?"

"You don't have to be so gentle, Dr. Reid. I'm done freaking out for the day. Let me guess, I'm next on this bastard's list?"

He nodded. "By law, you need an FBI agent with you at all times, for protection."

"Yeah," Haley sighed. "I thought so. Well, my house is always open. It's just me and my mom and dad."

"You're close to them?"

"I moved in with them when I was six, yeah, I've grown to love them. Your formative years are supposed to be spent in stability, though, you know?"

Reid shook his head. "Sometimes stability isn't all kids need. They all need a little more."

The black agent stormed in, "Haley, your mom's here, she agreed to let us set up at her house. Reid, I need to speak with you. By the way, I'm Agent Morgan."

"Thanks," Haley said, staring after him as he left the door wide open. "Is he always…?"

"Yeah," Reid finished and stood up quickly walking out of the room while Haley picked her things up.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Sorry about that last glitch for Chapter three! I don't know what happened. Let's hope this is better. If not, let me know!

Haley had been introduced to everyone on the team, her mother, Rita, was frantically cleaning the house, even though Hotch had promised her that it was fine. Haley hadn't said much since the interview. She got weird looks on her way out of the school because of her mother checking her out. Her father, Robert, was waiting at home.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't have a home cooked meal, but groceries are so expensive because gas prices are so high… what are you guys planning on doing about that?" Rita rambled on at Hotch while they had waited outside while the SWAT team checked for bugs. "Bob? You need to go pick up some pizza," she said to her husband. Meanwhile, she didn't take an arm off of Haley.

Her adopted daughter had shrugged it off, "I'm fine mom," was the last thing she said for four hours.

Robert came back with ten boxes of pizza, setting them down on the bar in the kitchen. "Thank you again for your hospitality," Rossi let her know.

"You're keeping my daughter safe from a psycho. Pizza is the very least I could do," she gushed. Haley rolled her eyes, not taking a slice.

Morgan had set a laptop up on the table along with a phone set in case Edgar Cross would call. Suddenly, Penelope Garcia popped up on the screen. "Bad news, crime fighters," she said. She brought up another window next to her that was scanning the FBI databases. "Nothing for Edgar Cross comes up on any police or FBI files. He's practically invisible aside from the typical sources of debt. There's no recorded evidence that he's even picked up a lost five dollar bill."

"That's not what we wanted to hear, baby cakes," Morgan sighed.

"But to make up for lack of crime, I did get his address and phone number," she said hopefully.

"Good girl, send that right over," Morgan smiled.

"I know and I will. Garcia out."

As the address and number were printed, Prentiss looked at Rossi. "We need to get into that man's house."

"We only have circumstantial evidence, what Haley's told us; we can't search his house without a court issued warrant," Hotch sighed.

"We don't have time for a warrant. All of these girls were killed within a week of each other, this guy's fast," Rossi interjected.

Reid hung back, listening to the conversation passively, putting a profile of Edgar Cross together in his mind when he caught a look of Haley's face.

She looked frantic and scared, she motioned toward the steps and began to go up. "JJ, Reid, follow her," Morgan nodded as Reid was already halfway toward the steps.

Without looking behind him, he continued up the steps behind Haley, listening to the soft footfall of JJ's boots on the thick carpeted floor. Haley stood at the top of the stairs and looked at JJ suspiciously. "Did she really have to come?" she asked.

JJ smiled. "There has to be at least two agents with you on a floor alone, according to regulations," she said. "You can trust me, right?"

"This was kind of for Dr. Reid," she said skeptically. "Can you keep it a secret?"

"What is it?" Reid asked, his interest peaked.

"Doctor, I'm sorry if I seem rude or intrusive, but I was watching you when I was talking about my biological parents. You seemed… apprehensive. I wanted to know why."

"No, no, it's fine," he murmured. "Can we go somewhere other than this hallway?"

"Yeah, my room, come on," she nodded to JJ as they followed her into the burnt-sienna room. The bedding was cream colored with accent pillows strewn onto it. There were two walls covered with bookshelves filled with books that were carefully arranged. Haley noticed JJ looking. "Alphabetically arranged by author, chronologically arranged by original publishing date, and set by subject."

"Obsessive compulsive?" she joked.

"This is the only organized thing in here," Haley laughed. "It would drive me nuts if they were shifted around. I like to find them quickly in case I need one."

"You were talking about my reaction to your mother?" Reid brought the conversation back.

Haley nodded. "Why?"

"I had the same deal, but I wasn't put in the foster care system," he said slowly, as though reluctant to tell his story to a victim.

"What do you mean?"

"My mother was a schizophrenic. My father called me a weirdo kid; he walked out when I was ten. Why did that concern you?"

"Doctor, do you mind me asking you something?" Haley said a little, perusing his face, his eyes, his hair, his facial gait.

"Sure," he almost whispered.

"My name, before it was Griffin, what it is now, was Reid. My mother's name was Diana Reid. What was yours?"

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"I do some digging myself, Doctor. I get curious. I want to know anything, everything! The best way to do that is to know exactly where I came from."

"My mother's name was Diana Reid," he said quietly. JJ put a hand to her mouth. "How'd you know to ask me?"

"Look on the third shelf from the right under psychology. There's a body language book tucked in there somewhere."

Reid turned around and looked, picking it out almost immediately and recognized it as one of the many he'd read at her age. He was flabbergasted. "Haley… I… I didn't know! I'm so… I would have…"

"You were what, seven? Eight? You couldn't have done anything. I just needed to know," she sat down on her bed and sighed, flopping against the duvet.

"What should I do?"

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to," she said. "I'm not expecting anything from you, Doctor."

"Please don't keep calling me that, it's weird."

"Reid," JJ breathed.

He turned to her along with Haley, almost simultaneously. Reid turned back to Haley. "Your eyes are blue," he noted.

"Yeah, they're Diana's shade."

He nodded. "I still see her. But Dad's were brown, I thought that was an aggressive gene."

"You know just as well as I do that he probably had one brown eye color recessive gene in the gene pool. Combining with Diana's two brown eye color recessive genes, there was a fifty/fifty chance of blue or brown eyes," she said.

Reid nodded. "Biology wasn't really my thing."

"But you should know enough about it; it's pretty useful when you need to know something about someone."

"Yeah," he said weakly. "Yeah."

"Don't you remember your mother's pregnancy?" JJ asked.

"JJ, I was a seven-year-old boy. Genius or no, I thought she was getting fat."

Haley giggled. "I guess I would've too, if the scenario was flipped."

"Haley, I'm so sorry," he said.

"Don't be," Haley said again. She paused, looking uneasily around the room, unsure of what to do next. "What should I call you, if not Doctor Reid?"

"Spencer," Reid said quietly, sitting down next to his newly found sister. "Haley, this doesn't change anything about the case, but after this is all over, I'll see what I can do for you."

"How many times do I have to say that you don't have to give me anything but an e-mail address?" Haley demanded.

"I want to give you more!" Spencer protested. "I don't have anyone else."

JJ sat on Haley's other side and patted her knee. "I think it's about time we went back downstairs. We don't have to tell everyone this, but maybe Rita and Robert would like to know, and we don't have to tell them just yet."

"If at all," Haley said.

"They need to know," JJ said with a slightly admonishing tone.

A second later there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Haley called, rapidly rubbing tears from her eyes.

"Haley?" Hotch called cracking the door and then coming in once he saw the coast was clear. "We need you downstairs. One for safety and two to go over protocol with a situation like this."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** It's always nice to have two updates in one day, isn't it? Thanks for the reviews! Please if you find another glitch let me know!

Haley sat down at the kitchen bar with the BAU team and her father leaning in an unobtrusive place in the corner. "Haley, we know that this may be inconvenient, but please know it's for your own safety," Rossi said. "First, you cannot go anywhere without an FBI agent with you. Second, you aren't allowed in most government facilities. This means school, DDS, library, any place like that."

"Agent Rossi, please. I need to, I've got finals creeping up on me next week, and… you know, I'd like to get to the next grade."

"You'll be excused," Rossi said harshly while Haley reeled. "Until we find Edgar Cross you are not to have contact with anyone from Camp Mikell, including the director, campers, or other counselors. Contact with students and staff from your school is to be kept minimal."

Reid was the only person in the room who detected the smallest curve of a smile come over her face. He was still in shock that he had a little sister and that she was in danger of a violent psychopath trying to kill her and leave her in a ditch somewhere.

"Are we clear on this?" Rossi drilled.

"Crystal, Agent Rossi," Haley said quietly. She flashed a quick glance at the clock on the microwave reading eight o'clock. "Can I go on a run right now?"

"What?" Hotch wrinkled his brow.

"Listen, I may have those restrictions on me, but as long as an Agent comes with me I'm fine, right? I'm not gonna let Edgar Cross get in the way of what I do normally and normally, I'm on a run right now."

When she received a questioning look from most of the team, Robert piped up. "She's on the cross country team at her school. She needs to run."

"I'll go with her," Morgan offered. He smiled at Haley, "Whip her into shape."

Haley smirked at him while looking at Reid. The doctor nodded discretely. "Morgan, I ah… have something to let you know before we run."

Morgan nodded as Haley walked up the stairs with JJ so she could change clothes.

Reid took Morgan into a hallway no one was using and began to talk.

"Wow," Morgan said as Reid finished up. "She's your sister?"

"Very, very probably," Reid said. He paused, looking at the end of the hallway and fingering his pocket where his half-year coin rested. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah she is. She knows way to much about Diana and my father than to not be."

"That's wild, man," Morgan sighed. "So, you're really gonna run?"

"No, not at all," Reid shook his head. "I'll leave that to you."

"Yeah that's what I thought!" the older agent laughed as Reid tip-toed away. Morgan leaned against the wall and huffed. He saw Reid play with his coin, and knew that he was craving. "Spencer," Morgan called.

Reid looked back. "Yeah?"

"I think you should run with us, you know blow some steam, it'll get a lot off your chest."

Reid nodded cautiously. "Sure."

The night was cool and crisp as Haley and Morgan cut through it. Reid walked behind them, sometimes in front of them if they lapped him. As Morgan ran with Haley and talked, he saw more and more of Reid in her. She would ramble and catch herself. She would stumble over a word because her mind was working too fast for her mouth.

Her mouse brown hair, so like Diana's and so like her brother's bounced up and down in the pony-tail and she was skinny as a rail. "So…" Morgan smiled as she slowed down and started checking her heart rate, calculating how many calories she had burnt up. "Favorite movie?"

"Stonehenge: Unearthed," she breathed. "I love it."

"Okay, okay, so you're fascinated by a circle of rocks. I get it."

"Actually, they have a theory that Stonehenge is only half of what was a complete religious phenomena. The other half is about a mile away and its called wood henge by locals. And each year, the ancient people would travel for miles twice a year to celebrate the summer and winter solstices, taking them as signs of life and of death-."

"All right, Haley, I get it. You like history," Morgan smiled as Reid trotted up to them.

"Do you… do this every night?" he breathed.

"About," Haley smiled. "You told Agent Morgan, didn't you?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"That's fine, Spencer," she nodded. Suddenly, she jumped. "Shit! Did anyone hear that but me?" she whispered fiercely.

Morgan drew his gun as Haley ducked behind him. "What was it?" he whispered to her.

"Look! Right there," she mouthed at him, pointing to a clump of trees and bushes in an undeveloped lot. A shadowy figure resembling a man dressed in black hovered and then disappeared.

"FBI!" Morgan shouted. "GET OUT HERE WHERE I CAN SEE YOU NOW!"

There was no response.

"I SAID NOW, DAMNIT!" Morgan shouted more intensely, flipping on his flashlight. "Must've gotten away."

"Check it," Haley's voice rising to a panic.

"Stay there," Morgan said to both Reid and Haley. Haley inched a little closer to him and started popping her knuckles. Her nervous tick.

Morgan walked closer to the clump and shone his light into it so nothing could escape the beam. "Clear," he said and cursed.

"Haley, I think we need to go home now."

"We'll have JJ and Prentiss sleep with Haley in her room, and at least two other agents at her door on the outside at night at the very least," Hotch said to the team. "Rossi and Morgan will take first shift, Reid and I will take second, got it?"

Everyone nodded. They had stayed up until all hours of the night trying to figure out exactly how he knew where Haley lived and why she was the one he needed to kill last.

According to Emily, there was always this sort of methodology with a revenge killer. There's one prime kill. Haley was that victim.

And with that delightful nugget of information, Haley turned in. She wasn't going to school or anything so why not stay up late? Anyways, she didn't want to miss any of it.

But as she lay in bed and the dark settled around her, her feeling of unrest only grew. She had nightmares of Edgar Cross outside of her window, smiling, waiting to get in to get her.


	5. Chapter 5

Three days in, Haley needed out. She was tired of staying indoors because Edgar could be outside waiting for her. She was tired of her mother's constant picking at what she ate, when she ate, how she spent her time, where she spent her time, what she wore, how she wore it, her hair, and her hair, and her hair, and her hair. She was sick of it.

"Agent Rossi," she approached him the morning of the third day. "I need out."

"What?"

"To get out? Go into town? Maybe the boardwalk?"

"What's on the boardwalk?"

"It's your typical boardwalk, Agent Rossi," Haley snapped at him. Emily and Reid suppressed laughter at his astonishment.

"He could be out there, Haley."

"He could be in here, Agent Rossi."

"Do you always have to be this difficult?"

"Are you gonna let me out?"

"No."

"There'll be agents with me!"

"You were almost abducted on your run, I'm not having you stolen on my time!"

"Come on! You don't trust your team? Rossi, please, I don't want to beg but I will. Just an hour, maybe two on the boardwalk, to feel the sea."

"We could all use a break," JJ ran her hand through her hair. "A run to town doesn't sound all that bad."

Hotch nodded. "I think we might have to."

"Then break we will have!" Morgan clapped his hands.

"I'll go with Haley," Reid said.

"Me too," JJ announced.

"Okay, the rest need to stay together. Two hours tops," Rossi scowled.

The sea was just like Haley wanted it to be: cloudy, choppy, and breezy. It's when the ocean smells best and is most potent. Her long, loose hair blew around her as sea spray splashed her face. "It's good, isn't it?"

"What?" Reid asked. A seagull that JJ had mistakenly fed had distracted him. Now there were hundreds behind them, and all three were using the "ignore-them-and-they-will-go-away" tactic. Thus far, it hadn't worked.

"Knowing your real parents?"

"I'm not sure most of the time. I mean, I love Mom- Diana, and I wouldn't be who I am today without her. Sometimes, though, it would be good to forget. There are some things that you just can't."

"Is that why you started shooting heroin?" her voice dropped. She wasn't afraid to be blunt. It needed to be put on the table. She had just found her brother and she wasn't going to have him be a druggie if she could help it.

Reid was surprised.

"Oh, don't think I don't know you do. Not that I've seen you use, but you have the look. Pale skin, sunken eyes, the whole nine yards are splayed on your face."

"I used to," Reid said. "I don't anymore, I've been clean for… seven months? So, a while now."

"I'm sorry, Spencer."

"For what?"

"Not beating around the bush. I kind of have a habit of being uncontrollably explicit. But as long as you think you're okay, then I'm okay."

"That's good," JJ said. "For a second I thought you two were about to commit."

Reid and Haley looked at JJ with the oddest expression. A mix of why would you think that and it sounded that way didn't it. "You would, JJ," Reid said non-chalantly.

Haley started to giggle to the side and be discrete, but it was hard to do with one person on each side. "So why'd you pick here, Haley?" JJ asked.

"This is where I come to clear my head when things are just getting to be too much," she said after she thought for a second on it. "The pier's always a good place for that sort of thing. There's the ocean, for one, and then there're the carnival games on the end with the Ferris wheel. I like to see the people laughing with their friends and the couples. It reminds me that there's life outside of what goes on in my head."

Reid nodded. "No monsters here," he said softly.

"They're everywhere, Spencer," Haley shook her head with a smile, "even in my head."

JJ's phone rang once and she picked it up before the second ring got started. "Jereau," she said with authority. "Hey Morgan… Okay, we're on our way too. Did Rossi loosen up?… Of course he wouldn't… See you there."

"Heading out?" Reid looked up at her, slinging his satchel over his shoulder.

"Come on, Brainiac," she rolled her eyes and lead the siblings to the big black SUV.

The house seemed oddly empty from the outside as the standard issue SUV's pulled up to the driveway and the side of the street, but that could have been Haley's imagination. Spencer sat next to her typing up a report on some other resolved case. When asked why he had to do them he smirked. "The first thing you learn is that it doesn't matter how many times you almost get shot, paperwork is the only thing that pays the bills."

"And he's only twenty-four," JJ rolled her eyes at Haley from the rear-view mirror.

Again, Haley looked anxiously out the window. Something was wrong, she could feel it. A stillness had settled around her house, like the air after over the wick after the candle had been snuffed, she realized as JJ pulled into the driveway, parked, then opened the door. She got out on her side and waited for Spencer to grab his things, shove them into the satchel and slide out. She and JJ slammed their doors at the same time.

She looked up at Spencer, then to JJ, to Morgan, Emily, and Agent Rossi climbing out of their own SUV. Did they see it? Did they feel the oppressive weight in the air? Did they see that a candle had been snuffed out, smoke still lingering? Morgan crossed the yard to the front door, taking out the keys that Rita and Robert had given the team so they could come and go as they wished. Standing behind him, Haley looked for some solace, a rock to grasp, anything to dash the choking feeling in her throat. She clenched and unclenched her hands as Morgan finally got the key shoved into the lock and turned.

Haley screamed. In front of them, hanging from one of Rita's prized exposed rafters were Roger and Rita. Tied with what looked like electrical wiring from some appliance, bulletholes all through them. Knife marks on their arms and legs. Their skulls concave on their foreheads.

Above them, written in blood on the rafter:_ She wasn't home._


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Sorry it took me a while to update! Especially after getting three updates in one day, this might seem a little dissapointing. But thank you for those who read and reviewed! Keep it up, let me know if you catch any errors in formatting or something.

**Disclaimer:** Own Criminal Minds, I do not. However, previously mentioned is a magical little place called Camp Mikell. It is real. I do not own it. I do not mean any harm to the reputation of the summer camp that I hold dear. The events that transpire in the story have nothing, I repeat NOTHING to do with the real place. I just needed a place I could work with.

Haley clawed against Morgan's back as he stood, stunned. She shrieked again, unintelligibly, then forming the word as best she could. "No." Morgan then picked her up and carried her to one of the SUV's, Reid following quickly. "NO!" she shouted again. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! That should be ME! I'll KILL HIM! I'LL KILL HIM!"

"Oh, no you won't little girl," Morgan said sternly as he rubbed her back while Reid trotted up to the scene. Morgan flipped out his cell and called 911, describing the situation. She continued her insane screams until they turned into sobs. Then sobs to cries, cries to whimpers, whimpers to stunned silence.

"Why? Why would he do something like this?" she croaked, her voice still shaky and trembling from her episode as in the distance, sirens could be heard coming to the house.

"There are some real psychos out there, sweetie," Morgan continued to console her. "This is not your fault in any way."

"If I were here, though… if I'd been home."

"Cross would have killed them anyway," Reid said with no restraint to his tone. "Haley, listen to what Morgan's telling you because he's telling you the truth. You need to be strong. They would have wanted you to be."

Haley couldn't stop thinking of the deformed faces of her adoptive parents. Robert and Rita. They'd been so good to her, and all they wanted was a little girl. Look what they got. She still saw their eyes every time she closed hers. Dead, cold, staring at her, pleading with her, begging to know why she couldn't save them.

Again, tears filled her blood-shot eyes, making the blue pop out more so than usual. "Did I even say that I loved them when we left the house?" she whispered. It was rhetorical, not meant for anyone but herself.

"There's no one to blame but Edgar Cross," Spencer repeated his statement. Different wording. What did he know?

"Too many people have died because of me," she mumbled as the police showed up. Morgan patted her knee as she sat in the seat of one of the SUV's and ran over to the chief of police, who couldn't take his eyes off of Haley.

Reid pointedly glared at him until he grew uncomfortable and looked at Derek. The nerve of him, treating Haley like she was a Zoo exhibit rather than a person who'd been stripped of all they knew time and time again, only to wind up alone in the world yet again. "You could think of it that way," Reid allowed. "You could wallow, but again, you could help us find him." A sparkle in Reid's eye. An idea.

"What are you talking about?" Haley asked, genuinely confused. "I'm not even close to being as qualified as y'all."

Through the gravity of the situation, Spencer couldn't help but start to laugh at Haley's word: y'all. "Did you really just say that?"

"Spencer, I grew up in the deep south, it's to be expected," she said flatly as she started to laugh at herself a little, too. But her smile wasn't her usual smile. Her laugh sounded weak and tinny to her own ears. "I'm still curious. What did you mean?"

"I'll have to run it by Rossi," Spencer said, suddenly become self-concious. "And it's probably not the best idea in the world."

"Come on, Spencer," Haley prodded. "Fill me in, what's going on?"

"He only came when he saw the SUV's were gone. And when he found you weren't here, he went into a rage and broke his pattern. It means he's deteriorating, which means-"

"I know what it means, Spence, but what does it have to do with your plan?"

"If he's deteriorated as quickly as I suspect he has, and if he saw the SUV's leave, then it means he's watching us. Which is good."

"Hello…?" Haley brought him back to coherent sentences and clear train of thought.

"If all of what I said is right, then he'll fall for a ruse. All we have to give him are clear indications that the cars are gone and you're in the house. Alone."

"If you mean what I think you mean…"

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

"You'll be in there with me right?" she asked, her big blue eyes meeting his brown ones. Same hair, same circles around the eyes, matching intellects, they couldn't have been more similar if they'd grown up together.

"If you need me to be."

"Yes."

"Yes… yes what?"

"I'll do it, and I need you in there. You and Morgan and Hotch," she shrugged. "I need you three in the house with me, and I'll feel safe. Really, honestly safe."

"With me?" Reid asked, touched, flattered, utterly confused.

"You're my big brother. You could put Ted Bundy in the house with me and I'd be fine if you were around the corner with a gun." She pushed a mousy brown tendril of hair over her eyes and looked the other way as the man from the morgue and his crew wheeled body bags past the siblings. "But, one thing I hate about this, more than the fact that they've died, is that I'll remember them that way. I never, never forget."

Spencer pulled her toward him for a hug. It was awkward for him. He wasn't used to this level of an emotion for another person. He felt, in that moment, that if Edgar Cross came out of a bush right then, he'd fight him off with his bare hands. "Think more of the good times you had with them," Spencer, well versed in trying to remember people in certain ways, whispered. "Think of how Rita was so flustered when we came because she didn't think the house was clean enough."

He felt Haley shaking in a mix of laughs and sobs. "Thank you, Spencer," she whispered back.

"Absolutely not," JJ gasped as Reid revealed his plan. "Spencer, are you out of your _mind_?" It was late in the evening, the police reports had been filed. The bodies had been identified. The social worker came by and Reid had to come out to the team in a most undesirable way. In the confusion, they convinced the social worker to let Haley stay with the FBI until the case was resolved. She was safer here.

"It seems that way, doesn't it?" Hotch murmured.

"You can't honestly tell me you're considering this," Rossi retorted. "Hotchner, it's completely unorthodox!"

"I _want _to do it!" Haley objected.

"Look, it might _seem_ like the only way to 'avenge' your foster parents, but Haley, you need to realize the dangers your putting yourself into. I'm talking stray bullets here!"

"I think she knows what she's getting herself into," Morgan argued for her.

"You talk like we're already letting her do it," JJ snapped.

"Because we _are_," Emily said for Morgan. "JJ, if she wants to do this, and if it catches Edgar Cross, it's the the best thing we can do. Now think about it, how many times is Reid wrong?"

"Not many," Hotch answered for both JJ and Morgan, who looked like he was about to make a 'Genius Reid' comment.

"It's up to Rossi," JJ huffed. "But let it be known, I can't even entertain the notion of putting a seventeen year old girl in the line of fire of a psychopathic maniac."

Rossi sat, listening to his team's arguments and taking them each into consideration. What it wound down to was how much did he want to catch Edgar Cross? Very much. So his descision was made. "Let her do it. She clearly knows the risk."

"You're serious?" Haley asked, unsure. "You're not going to back out last minute?"

"Tomorrow at twelve PM, JJ and I will take the cars a few blocks north of here so he gets the idea. Haley needs to be seated in front of a window, watching a movie, maybe. He'll see she's alone, and enter the house through the unlocked front door. Morgan, Reid, Prentiss, and Hotchner will take it from there."

"There are _so_ many holes in that plan," JJ shook her head.

"It's the only one we've got," Reid defended.


	7. Chapter 7: The End

**A/N: **This one really did take a while, for that, I'm sorry. Private school is a time monster and so is writing a novel and another fan fiction at the same time. But enough about my issues (which include the fact that I don't own Criminal Minds and am making no profit off of this other than sheer enjoyment), let's go on with the story!

The next morning, Haley woke screaming, grabbing the covers and breathing as though she'd just run a 5K. "Spencer!" she shouted. What had she been dreaming? Was it about the ambush plan?

"Haley!" Emily woke up. JJ had already left the room and gone downstairs, it seemed, much earlier than when Haley would wake up. "Haley, what's wrong?"

If Haley were telling the honest truth, she'd say that Emily had never been her favorite agent. In fact, if she had to pick a second favorite, it would be Morgan. The only thing that redeemed Emily was Rossi, and that was only because Rossi was such a hard case. What could Haley say? First impressions can never have do-overs. "Just a bad dream," Haley murmured, unclenching her white comforter and looking at her sweaty palms.

"What about?" Emily asked, sitting down next to Haley on the full-size bed. It was a logical question because at this point in Haley's life, she had _plenty_ of things to have nightmares about. She could pick any one of the things that weren't the subject of her dreams: Edgar Cross, Rita and Robert's eyes, her dead friends, the thought of Spencer dead because of her. This nightmare was undestinguishable, but all she was doing in the recurring dream was falling through blackness. She was always terrified.

"Just a falling dream, they're pretty common right?" Haley asked. Never putting much stock into what dreams have to say or don't have to say, she never read about them and was thus ignorant to meanings and interpretations.

Emily showed her a half smile. "Falling means you're insecure about an overwhelming situation. For that, I can't blame you." She stood up and walked over to her sleeping bag on the floor and tidied it up a little bit. "I would be, too. You're a brave girl, Haley, Reid's lucky to have you as his sister."

Haley was floored. "Yeah?" she asked, not moving from under her blankets on her bed. Sitting up, she could see herself in the mirror across the room and saw how her hair looked like she had slept in a tornado. She decided that she didn't care as she rubbed sleep out of her eyes and watched Emily. "Why do you think that?"

"Why do you not?" she asked. "I think you're good for him, and he needs you. You two understand each other." She looked on the shelf at one of DVD's. "I mean, I can't understand for the life of me why you would willingly watch _The Girl with Eight Limbs_ but you know, I bet Reid has the same DVD on his shelf."

"It's actually one of my favorites!" Haley defended. "It's a medical phenomenon. You know, like Siamese twins? A little girl named Lakshmi is born with her twin fused into her pelvis making her look like the Hindu goddess Lak-"

"That's _exactly_ what I mean," Emily interrupted with a smile. "Now, get out of bed so we can go downstairs to eat. We've got… an ordeal ahead of us."

Protocol stated that Emily couldn't leave the room while Haley groggily pulled on a pair of blue jeans and an old tee shirt. She ran a brush through her hair an continued on her way down the stairs, Emily trotting after her.

Haley still couldn't believe that they all woke up so early in the morning. Was it like this every morning? Spencer always looked like he could stand a bit more sleep, so maybe they did.

"Hey Zombie, still asleep?" Morgan beamed at her from behind the counter. A pot of coffee brewed in the maker. "Need a pick-me-up?"

Haley shook her head. "I drink tea. More antioxidants. It's a lot better for you than coffee."

"But it doesn't work as well, I bet."

"Better, actually," Haley countered, smirking at him as she pulled out a mug and began to heat up water in the microwave.

"Right, whatever," Morgan rolled his eyes as he sat down beside Reid on the barstools. Reid was apparently still waking up after what appeared to be an ill-spent night. He couldn't take his eyes off of Haley.

"We're all clear on the plan, aren't we?" Hotch asked from the table.

"Unfortunately," JJ muttered but was generally ignored by the pro-plan party. Emily squeezed JJ's shoulder, undoubtedly feeling the same sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Then we better head out," Rossi said, walking past her and taking her elbow, leading her out of the house to the SUV's. "This was a lost cause anyways," he said completely naturally once outside of the front door. They were on the sidewalk now leading to the driveway where one of the gas guzzling vehicles stood.

"What good would we do her?" JJ asked hopelessly, flawlessly falling into the set up for Edgar Cross' ultimate demise. It almost scared her in a way, how she knew he never stopped watching for an opportunity to strike. "He's just too good."

"Don't tell _her_ that, Agent Jareau."

"She's almost as nutty as Edgar. I can almost empathize with the man though. She ruined his family."

The false exchange continued as Edgar Cross listened intently from the bushes on the opposite side of the vehicle hidden in a thorny holly bush. It pained him, but he could see, hear, and nearly feel everyhting these Agents left behind. And now they were leaving! It couldn't be more fantastic if he had planned on this. The first SUV rolled off containing the entirety of the BAU, leaving only Agent Jareau to pull out from the street in front of the house, and Haley would be his.

It wasn't easy, this whole ordeal. He had killed the first girls without a thought or too much of a following period. He just… _killed _them. He chuckled to himself. _Gotcha!_ But the waiting and the protection on this Haley girl! The life ruiners' _leader_, well, it had been enough to push him over the edge. He nearly went crazy. But he wasn't crazy, oh no, he was the only sane one there.

He visually relaxed as the other SUV pulled away from the curb, and he made not a move until he could no longer hear the soft rumblings of the tires on the asphault. Slowly, carefully, he emerged from his hide out of the past week or so, he had lost count. All that mattered was now. Haley was alone, unprotected, unsuspected…

He pushed the door open, it had been unlocked. The thought was a buzz in the back of his head. All there was was Haley. Haley, Haley, Haley.

Haley's face, twisted in terror.

Haley's neck, slender and long.

Haley's blood. Oh her blood. All over the walls and the carpet and the doors and her. Blood would be everywhere. He would make sure of that.

The floorboards under the soft white carpet creaked slightly. He smiled, he wanted her to know he was here.

Three other people knew he was there as well. Hidden behind a corner in the foyer was Morgan, gun loaded, vest on, a look of disgust on his face. This asshole was going down.

From the top of the stairs, Reid stood. Perfectly out of sight until Cross turned his sights on him. Then, he'd whip out his gun if Morgan didn't get him first. Prentiss stood behind them on the way into the kitchen, right behind another.

The hair on Cross' neck stood up as he heard a deep, authortitative voice. "FBI, Mr. Cross, drop your gun."

To this request, made by Aaron Hotchner, Edgar complied, but pulled his knife so quickly, bolted up the stairs to Reid and knocked him over, the young agent's head hitting a hole in the wall as he fell. He shoved into Haley's room, and she screamed as he fell upon her with the knife.

"STOP! NO!" she shrieked in pain as she felt the knife dive into her stomach, carving. Carving what? She continued to shriek, her vision blacking and coming back. As she kicked and swiped at the air in front of her to no avail. Finally, blissful numbness overtook her mind and in the distance she could hear voices of 

two frightened and enraged men, the terrified shouts of a concerned woman. The pressure came off of her and she felt herself being lifted.

&

Some time passed before Haley opened her eyes again. When she did, she was completely shocked to find herself in a hospital room before all of the memories flooded back. Edgar with the knife in her bedroom. She found it hard to imagine him there again. Spencer sat in the corner of the room on a desk overhang next to the window. There were piles of paperwork around him and he was scribbling rapidly every two or three seconds.

"G'Morning," Haley said weakly, with a smile.

Spencer nearly jumped out of his skin on his way over to her bedside. "Haley! Are feeling okay?"

"It hurts to move my abdomen a little," she said again, hating the frailty of her voice. How long had she been out? She felt grimy and filthy. Was she asleep long enough to constitute a shower?

Spencer looked from her to the button that was dangling down from the overhang. It was for the pain-killer whenever she needed it. "Do you-?"

"No, Spence I can deal. Addiction runs in the family, remember?" she arched an eyebrow at him, almost laughing at his face as she admonished him from her hospital bed. "How long have I been asleep?"

"About two weeks," Spencer affirminated.

"School?" she asked, quickly. "Exams?"

"Exempt," he wanted to slake her test thirst there. But he knew from her face that she thought that was the easy way out.

"Really?" she asked. "They're seriously doing that?"

A smile broke across Spencer's face. "Just get over it," he laughed. "You'll have an actual high-school senior experience next year."

"Where will I be next year, though?" she asked almost hopelessly.

"With me, in my apartment in Quantico. I mean, I know it's a big jump, but you've been in the foster care system for so long and I mean, William isn't going to want to take you back and Diana's incapable so-"

She tried to sit up so she could hug him, but was restricted by the many tubes that were stuck in her. Instead she laughed. "You're adopting me?" she was almost crying. In that moment, Spencer and Haley were a big brother, little sister batallion. There was no 'genius' to it, none at all.

He nodded. "That's the paperwork over there."

"Well get back to it!" Haley squealed. "Wait, where are the others?"

"Back in Quantico. Hotch let me have a week off to stay down here with you, help you check yourself out of the hospital, pack your things…"

She was suddenly quiet. "What'll happen to Robert and Rita's place?"

"It's…" Spencer hesitated at the morbitity of it. "Up on the market again. That's why, if I ever get a _house_, it'll be a new one."

"Yeah, that is pretty sadistic," Haley agreed, looking him up and down at his desk. She desperately wanted to get up and take a shower.

"You need to sleep some more. You haven't slept like that in a while."

"No nightmares."

"Then go back to that place, Hales, I'll be here when you wake up."

And with that knowledge, Haley sat back and closed her eyes, beaming from within. She fell asleep knowing that from then on, Spencer would always be there when she woke up.


End file.
